Hi, could someone please explain when to use 言われる (or 言われた）as opposed to 言う （or 言った）? I've done some of my own searching, but I'm not sure when it's ok to use one and not the other. Does anyone have any examples? ありがとう！

The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.☆-D.Adams

Slight nuance difference.
In English, there is nearly not translated difference.

Notice the location of に。渡辺さんに言われた。・渡辺さんは私に言った。
The first one could be translated as: It was said of my that my Japanese is good by Watanabe. Where as the second one, to me anyway, seems like he said it right "at" you.

悪い兄がいるから、皆に私が良くない人だと思わせられた。
I've got a bad brother, so I was forced to be thought of as a bad person by everyone.

This old, but I felt like adding:
~aseru form is also the "it is done" form.
It is said that mt. fuji is the birth place of the sun. Kinda feel.
That would be iwareru.
It is eaten. taberareru
ii? That might help.

Actually, 分かる has the potential form already built in. If you say 分かれる it means to seperate. I belive you're thinking of passive form, not potential form. Potential form is I can do, passive is I was done it. あれる is passive 受身形

言える is I can speak, not いあれる.

for changing any verb to potential, change the last character to the え column and add る。if it ends in an え character (like 食べる) you can add れる or られる

行く 行ける
食べる 食べれる
遊ぶ 遊べる

I think that's the rule anyhow.

Last edited by Harisenbon on Fri 06.17.2005 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

食べれる is a spoken contraction of 食べられる, because it's such a pain to say. It is technically not grammatically correct, but in use, 食べられる is actually less common.

EDIT From The college 国語 class, my fiancee has decided to step in
社長は食べられました。 has three meaninings
（尊敬） The president ate.
（可煤j The president could eat.
（受身系） The president was eaten.

Because there are so many ways of reading the られる ending, there is the possibility for a lot of confusion. For example, a subordinate says to his boss+
せんべいを食べられますか？ He is trying to use (1), polite speak. But to the boss, it might seem as if he is being asked if he CAN eat senbei, and will probably get upset. "I'm not that old! My teeth aren't that weak!", etc.

Thus, the TRULY correct way would be to say 食べることが出来ますか？

END

Although to be honest, if I had to say 何々ことが出来ますか？ everytime I wanted to use potential, I think I'd go insane.

I heard that the passive form isn't used in Japanese as much as it is in English. People are more likely to use the regular verb form (unless it's something bad that happened to them). What do you guys think? I'm only asking because although Japanese verb conjugation is simple & straight forward, I think it's 面倒くさい. Some words can get kinda long when dealing with passive (and also causative & causative-passive...). I'm lazy.

The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.☆-D.Adams

The child had breakfast. -> past -> The child had had breakfast.
The child the parents had. -> past -> The child the parents had had.
(the parents had the child via a surrogate mother, so they had the child had)

When you want to say 食べる in honorific expression, you should use 召し上がる（めしあがる） instead of 食べられる.「食べる」の敬体としては、「食べられる」より「召し上がる」の方が適切でしょう。In this case, 食べられる sounds like to be eaten.この場合ですと、「食べられる」という阜ｻは受身の意味合いが強く感じられます。社長は召し上がりました。 is a better expression.「社長は召し上がりました。」と言った方がよろしいかと思います。

惹（ひ）く→惹かれる be attracted to
ひかれる sounds like "get hit by a car".
「ひかれる」は「轢かれる」などと勘違いしやすいですね。
可: 彼（か）の方（かた）にお嬢様（じょうさま）はひかれていらっしゃる。 Her ladyship gets hit by his car.
良: お嬢様は彼の方をお慕（した）い吹iもう）し上（あ）げていらっしゃる。 Her ladyship is attracted to him.

付（つ）ける→付けられる
付けられる sounds like "someone shadows me".
「付けられる」は後を追われているのかと思ってしまいますね。
可: お嬢様に付けられたのは執事（しつじ）である。 It was a butler whom her ladyship shadowed.
良: お嬢様にお仕（つか）えさせなさったのは執事である。 He/She made a butler to serve her ladyship.

These are funny, but difficult examples.
可笑しくも難しい例となってしまいました。
You don't have to care at all, though.
全く気にする必要もないのであしからず。